Summary: A new study shows that COVID-related lockdown had a much graver impact on adolescents than thought previously. The pandemic caused much faster brain maturation in adolescents, particularly in females.
During COVID, lockdown was an essential step to protect precious lives. It was one of the most significant pandemics since the Spanish flu pandemic and one of the first pandemics of the 21st century.
Lockdown is a simple yet effective measure for preventing the spread of highly contagious infections. Minimizing contact with the outer world means significantly reduced infection risk.
However, no measure is without its downsides. Lockdown means social isolation, which has a negative impact on millions of individuals, particularly on mental well-being. Humans are social animals, which means that lack of social interaction is quite harmful to humans.
Further, lockdown may be particularly bad for specific population groups. One such population group is children and adolescents. This population group has fast-growing or developing brains and mental abilities. However, they are significantly dependent on social interaction for acquiring specific skills and for normal mental growth.
Yet, another important factor to consider when analyzing the adverse effects of lockdown is gender. The female brain is different from the male brain. This has much to do with hormones and how they affect female brains. This is the reason why females are also more prone to mood issues.
Now, one of the new studies found that COVID-related lockdown had far greater adverse effects on girl’s brains than boy’s brains. This concerns the growth of the brain of adolescents.
This new study compared the brain scans of post-COVID brains with brain scans of the pre-COVID era. Researchers found that COVID-related lockdown resulted in an acceleration of brain maturation by 4.2 years in females, compared to just 1.4 years in males. So, the difference was massive and statistically relevant.
Science knows that stress causes acceleration in brain maturation, but science does not fully understand the mechanism behind it. However, researchers did not expect such an acceleration in females, and they did not expect such a significant difference between the genders. This shows that lockdown-related stress had a much greater negative impact on the mental well-being of females than males.
Further, we are talking about faster brain maturation in adolescents, which means that this will have a long-term impact on the generation. Of course, it is difficult to guess what these adverse effects would be. Nonetheless, it may mean more significant mental health issues in the generation. Further, it may also result in some unique health problems in the generation.
There are several reasons why lockdown or social isolation has a graver impact on adolescents. They are already on the verge of becoming adults, building their lives. So, they are under immense social pressure. However, a pandemic like COVID disrupted their plans, and not only that, they also did not have anywhere to release their pressures, resulting in much greater mental stress.
Although these changes in the brain, that is, cortex thinning, might suggest a long-term impact on the mental well-being of the population, researchers say that some of these issues or effects might be reversed over time, though slowly. Increased social interaction may help overcome some of those issues in the post-COVID era. It is quite likely that many patients in interventional pain management might make a complete recovery, though not all.
Of course, researchers say that these new findings have opened more questions than they have answered. This pandemic provided a unique opportunity for researchers to study the impact of lockdowns, resulting in social isolation and stress on the teenage brain. However, this also has raised many questions that remain to be answered.
Understanding these challenges is essential, especially as they may relate to care from chronic pain specialists, who address stress-related ailments.
Source:
Corrigan, N. M., Rokem, A., & Kuhl, P. K. (2024). COVID-19 lockdown effects on adolescent brain structure suggest accelerated maturation that is more pronounced in females than in males. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(38), e2403200121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2403200121